114 ADVANTAGE OF COMBINING MENTAL 



aid, when required, in dragging the chains or carry- 

 ing our instruments. The conversation of a friend 

 is, in the same way, a powerful alleviator of the 

 fatigue of walking. 



The same important principle was implied in the 

 advice which the Spectator tells us was given by a 



Ehysician to one of the Eastern kings, when he brought 

 im a racket, and told him that the remedy was 

 '- concealed in the handle, and could act upon him only 

 by passing into the palms of his hands when engaged 

 in playing with it, and that as soon as perspiration 

 was induced, he might desist for the time, as that 

 would be a proof of the medicine being received 

 into the general system. The effect, we are told, 

 was marvellous ; and, looking to the principle just 

 stated, to the cheerful nervous stimulus arising 

 from the confident expectation of a cure, and to the 

 consequent advantages of exercise thus judiciously 

 managed, we have no reason to doubt that the fable 

 is in perfect accordance with nature. 



The story of an Englishman who conceived him- 

 self so ill as to be unable to stir, but who was pre- 

 vailed upon by his medical advisers to go down from 

 London to consult an eminent physician at Inver- 

 ness who did not exist, may serve as another illus- 

 tration. The stimulus of expecting the means of 

 cure from the northern luminary was sufficient to 

 enable the patient not only to bear, but to reap 

 benefit from, the exertion of making the journey 

 down ; and his wrath at finding no such person at 

 Inverness, and perceiving that it was all a trick, sus- 

 tained him in returning, so that on his arrival at 

 home he was nearly cured. Hence also the supe- 

 riority of battledore and shuttlecock, and similar 

 games, which require society and some mental 

 stimulus, over mere listless exercise. It is, in fact, 

 a positive misnomer to call a solemn procession 

 exercise. Nature will not be cheated ; and the 



